TRANSLATED INTO CZECH, CHECK: Revealed salaries at OpenAI: How much the creator of ChatGPT pays researchers, engineers, and other key workers in the AI field
OpenAI, the laboratory behind ChatGPT, is among the technology companies that exceptionally well compensate their employees. According to federal documents, OpenAI employees are among the best-paid workers in Silicon Valley. Despite the strict rules for H-1B visas introduced by former President Donald Trump, the company still attracts talent from around the world.
According to these documents, the company pays a really high price for its specialists. For example, researchers in technical positions can earn a base salary ranging from 245,000 USD to 685,000 USD per year (approximately 5,164,600 – 14,450,800 CZK), without bonuses or stock awards included. For conversion to Czech crowns, we used the current rate of 1 USD ≈ 21.08 CZK, which was valid at the time of data processing. These positions are crucial for the development and improvement of AI models that power OpenAI's products.
What are H-1B visas?
H-1B visas are special U.S. work visas for foreign professionals with specific skills, especially in the fields of technology, science, and engineering. They allow companies like OpenAI to employ experts from abroad when they need them for demanding projects and the development of cutting-edge AI systems. Practically, this means that a talented engineer from Europe, India, or another country can legally work in the U.S. and contribute to the development of products like ChatGPT, DALL·E, or other advanced AI tools. These visas are often associated with strict conditions, including documentation on salaries, job positions, and employee qualifications, which also allows the public to gain insight into a company's salary structure – this is where many of the uncovered figures come from.
Why are salaries so high?
High compensation reflects the rapidly growing demand for top AI experts. OpenAI continuously attracts the best experts from elite universities such as Stanford, MIT, CalTech, and Carnegie Mellon. Between October and December 2025 alone, the company added more than 60 new foreign employees on H-1B visas. Last year, the company submitted over 160 applications for these visas, reports the information from Business Insider.
At the beginning of the year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the company plans to slow down hiring because they believe AI allows "to achieve much more with fewer people." Nevertheless, OpenAI is still expanding its team, now having more than 4,000 employees who, besides high salaries, receive average stock compensation of 1.5 million USD per year (approximately 31,620,000 CZK), a record amount compared to other tech startups, reported the Wall Street Journal.
These salaries are significantly higher than in traditional tech companies and reflect the growing pressure to acquire talent. Companies like Meta, Google, and other tech giants offer similarly lucrative packages, further increasing competition and pushing salaries up.
Salaries of AI Researchers
Researchers are the highest-paid employees at OpenAI, and their task is to design and improve AI models. Their work is crucial for the long-term competitiveness of the company.
- Member of Intelligence and Investigation Team: 320,000 – 382,500 USD (6,745,600 – 8,064,900 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (AI Systems Engineer): 245,000 – 460,000 USD (5,164,600 – 9,700,800 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Research & AI Systems): 310,000 – 460,000 USD (6,534,800 – 9,700,800 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Research Engineer): 210,000 – 460,000 USD (4,426,800 – 9,700,800 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Research Scientist): 245,000 – 685,000 USD (5,164,600 – 14,450,800 CZK)
These positions often include significant stock packages and bonuses, which can increase the total compensation for employees up to double the base salary.
Salaries of Engineers and Data Scientists
These positions are crucial for building and maintaining AI tools and infrastructure, with the salary reflecting the demanding nature of the work and the requirements for high qualifications.
- Technical Team Member (Data Science): 255,000 – 490,000 USD (5,374,000 – 10,329,200 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Hardware Engineer): 250,000 – 555,000 USD (5,270,000 – 11,694,000 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Security Engineer): 310,000 – 325,000 USD (6,534,800 – 6,851,000 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Software Developer): 325,000 USD (6,851,000 CZK)
- Technical Team Member (Software Engineer): 170,000 – 490,000 USD (3,583,600 – 10,329,200 CZK)
Salaries of Product, Program, and Design Team Employees
Non-technical positions are also well-compensated because they ensure product functionality and a positive user experience.
- Design team member: 245,000 – 310,000 USD (5,164,600 – 6,534,800 CZK)
- Product team member (Product Management): 210,000 – 325,000 USD (4,426,800 – 6,851,000 CZK)
- Program team member: 150,000 – 355,000 USD (3,162,000 – 7,485,400 CZK)
These positions are crucial for strategic planning, project management, and ensuring that OpenAI's products are user-friendly and technologically reliable.
Salaries for Sales and Support Employees
The business and support teams ensure finance, sales, and customer satisfaction.
- Finance team member: 240,000 – 260,000 USD (5,059,200 – 5,480,800 CZK)
- Go To Market team member: 180,000 – 290,000 USD (3,794,400 – 6,113,200 CZK)
- Go To Market team member (Customer Success): 165,000 – 240,000 USD (3,478,200 – 5,059,200 CZK)
- Go To Market team member (Forward Deployed Engineer): 220,000 USD (4,637,600 CZK)
- Go To Market team member (Support Engineer): 235,000 USD (4,959,800 CZK)
- Support and community team member: 180,000 – 235,000 USD (3,794,400 – 4,959,800 CZK)
OpenAI pays high salaries because human talent is a key resource in the AI sector. The best experts can significantly impact the quality and competitiveness of products. Combined with bonuses and stock options, OpenAI employees can achieve rewards that are significantly higher than base salaries, often double or more.
These rewards are also a reaction to competition. Tech giants like Meta, Google, and Microsoft are trying to attract the same experts and are willing to pay high amounts. OpenAI uses this approach not only to retain its talent but also to continually innovate and remain a leader in the global race for artificial intelligence.
OpenAI anticipates a loss of 14 billion USD (approximately 295 billion CZK) in 2026, investors panic
Artificial intelligence is still far from being profitable. Experts have expressed concern and investors are in panic as OpenAI released financial projections for next year. The company expects a loss of 14 billion USD (approximately 295,120,000,000 CZK), despite leading the global race in AI. Reports the newspaper The Information.
One of the main problems of rapidly developing AI is its current inability to generate profit, especially given the enormous investments companies are making in AI development. AI has firmly conquered the world, with an estimated 800 million active monthly users for ChatGPT alone, but financial issues persist.
OpenAI not only struggles with profitability, but according to an internal document seen by The Information, it is experiencing inevitable and significant losses. The document suggests that profit might not be achieved until around 2029, when revenues could exceed 100 billion USD (approximately 2,108,000,000,000 CZK).
It is common for new companies to spend more than they earn in the first few years. However, experts warn that this model might be too extreme for OpenAI and could lead to unsustainability.
Entrepreneur Brad Gerstner, an investor in OpenAI, questioned CEO Sam Altman about the company's expenses after discovering that another 1.4 trillion USD (approximately 29,512,000,000,000 CZK) was to be invested. Altman responded briefly:
"If you want to sell your shares, I will find you a buyer. That's it."
Despite OpenAI securing investments in the tens, if not hundreds, of billions of USD, most of it comes from giants in the AI sector, such as Amazon and Nvidia. The number of users is encouraging, but converting it into revenue remains a challenge. The introduction of ads into the free version of ChatGPT was controversial, and although the company encourages users to opt for paid "Pro" versions, other sources of income are still lacking. The problem is similar to what many internet companies have faced due to the "free" nature of the internet, and AI models are encountering this issue similarly.
Source: original text, wsj.com, businessinsider.com, theinformation.com
